How Lugard “killed” Tolulope

WHILE we do not know yet the Air Force guy who reversed the car that killed flying officer Tolulope Arotile, we know for sure that Sir Frederick Lord Lugard set the contradictories in the “impossible country” that led to her death in 1914!

The brilliant and courageous 24-year-old first female combat flying officer gave all her best to a false country she did not understand until she was killed on Tuesday most likely, the way agents of Boko Haram within the forces have been eliminating those waging war against insurgency on behalf of a non-existing country .

I listened to an ex-soldier, an anonymous call on Naija Info making a heart-rendering narration of how a colleague shot him with loud complaint in Hausa that “you too dey killl people “(people meaning Boko Haram” who should ordinarily be the enemies of the country if we had one). The fellow described himself as the best sniper in his unit who shoots without missing but served under very inhumane conditions.

He resigned after he narrowly escaped with his life and narrated how two of his colleagues were shot dead in similar circumstances by agents of insurgence in uniform.

Nigerian troops were ambushed some years back in Kogi State with devastating blows from Boko Haram with suggestion later, the movement plans of the troops were allegedly given to Boko Haram in advance by the insurgents’ sympathisers within the Army.

When a sobbing Commander-in-Chief Goodluck Jonathan came before Nigeria In 2012 that Boko Haram had infiltrated his government, those who didn’t have a full understanding of their country said all they needed was to replace him with a strong man in the next election even when what was coming from the supposed strong quarters was open defence of Boko Haram who were supposedly not given “amnesty like Niger Delta militants.”

For the record:

“President Goodluck Jonathan today admitted that members of the extremist Boko Haram sect have succeeded in infiltrating his government, planting its  members in  government agencies and security outfits.

“The president made the assertion during a church service at the National Ecumenical Centre as part of the annual Armed Forces remembrance day celebrations.

“The deadly sect has become Nigeria’s biggest security challenge, operating in an amorphous manner and bombing innocent Nigerians at random, even in churches and mosques.

“Government has so far been unable to contain the sect, halt its deadly activities and arrest what appears a slide to anarchy.

“An obviously helpless Mr Jonathan said he believed Boko Haram had sympathisers in government, national assembly and even security agencies.

“He lamented that the Boko Haram threat was becoming worse than the Nigerian civil war in which over a million people were killed.

“During the civil war, we knew and we could even predict where the enemy was coming from,” the President said. “You can even know the route they are coming from, you can even know what calibre of weapon they will use and so on.

“He described the Boko Haram sect as mysterious, saying some people in the North had told him it was  possible their children belong to the sect without them knowing about it.

“Some continue to dip their hands and eat with you and you won’t even know the person who will point a gun at you or plant a bomb behind.”

It was as if Boko Haram was a wing of the battle for the next election. The then spokesman of the opposition, Alhaji Lai Mohammed was issuing statements in defence of the rights of Boko Haram against government and some Nigerians ignorantly expected the same people to come and fight the same evil forces they were defending to a standstill.

They cannot later connect the dots when the Nigerian government became tongue-tied when the Wall Street Journal published that this government paid Boko Haram 3million Euros. My people perish for lack of knowledge!

A VOA report in 2014 titled “Army, Boko Haram working together in parts of Nigeria revealed some of the internal contractions of Nigeria why it cannot win the war against insurgency:

“A Nigerian soldier says he has witnessed incidents that suggest some Nigerian military commanders are working with Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group blamed for thousands of deaths since 2009.

In an exclusive interview with VOA’s Hausa service, he described how his military unit, based in the North-Eastern Borno State region, was ambushed by Boko Haram fighters.

The soldier, who did not want to be identified, said the commander of a nearby military unit, based in the town of Bama, recently sought assistance from his unit in carrying out a raid.

The soldier said when the two military units joined up, they were given different uniforms. The Bama unit commander gave his own troops green uniforms. The soldier said his unit received “desert camouflage” uniforms.

When the troops reached the battle area, the soldier said the commander of the better-equipped Bama unit suddenly withdrew his forces, leaving the remaining troops to fend for themselves against Boko Haram fighters.

Speaking in Hausa, he said, “We had only light arms and our men were being picked off one after the other.”

The soldier also said he recognised some of the Boko Haram fighters as his former military trainers in Kontagora, a town near the capital, Abuja.

“We realised that some of them were actually mercenaries from the Nigerian army… hired to fight us,” he said.

This soldier and others have said that too often, commanders have pocketed money that was supposed to be used to help equip units.”

When President Jonathan said some people could be eating with you and you don’t know who will point a gun at your head or plant a bomb behind you, maybe he should have added or drive a car into you.

Reasonable people reject the Air Force account that Tolulope died in an accident. That statement was an attempt to cover up the killing of the young lady in their eyes and with eyewitness accounts’ reports that it was a colleague who reversed a car into her killing her off, they have joined her family to demand a coroner’s inquest before her burial.

We need to know who killed her and the distance one can reverse his vehicle to hurt a pedestrian in an accident and the speed at which one can kill another person in an incident.

Unless a credible investigation convinces us otherwise, we hold strong vow that Tolulope may have been murdered and further weakening belief in Nigeria as a project.

Tolulope is dead and nothing can bring her back but the Nigeria Air Force owes her memory a duty to unravel details of her death so as not to bear vicarious liability as an institution. The fellow who killed her must be fished out and prosecuted.

Goodnight Tolulope, a dutiful officer born into the wrong country.
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Re: Farewell, Koseleri

SIR, it appears you gave in easily to the protest of Mogaji G O Tewogbade on your position that the late Senator Ajimobi’s  excessive talk is symbiotic of Ibadan.

By doing that it appears you were not sure of your assertion.

The fact is that many towns in Yorubaland have attributes, and these are derived from  towns history as recorded in their lineage or town’s praise song, Oriki.

Beside excessive talk, street fighting is another attribute of Ibadan. This is understandable from the warlike nature of the settlers/ founders of the town post Egba era. Ibadan was a war camp of Ife/Oyo warriors later of Oyo.

The leaders were warriors so also their foot soldiers. Either in search of superiority of a ward over another, or superiority contest among various leaders as between Ife and Oyo, street fighting could not be ruled out in inter group relations in the city.

This led to the saying – IJA IGBORO LARUN IBADAN, MA SU MA TO NI TI EKO. This means street fighting is an ailment of Ibadan, while due to the level of sanitation in Lagos, it became a saying that you should not urinate or defacate anyhow in Lagos.

The saying is concluded by ‘WERE IBADAN LO RAN ARA OGBOMOSO’. The madness of Ibadan people were imbibed by Ogbomoso. This was an outcrop of the comradeship between Yoruba warriors in Ibadan and Ogbomoso during the civil war years in Yorubaland, circa 1789-1893.

The warriors of the two towns being of Oyo Yoruba origin were truculent and exhibited war bravery or dextrity to the chagrin of the enemies, especially those from Ogbomoso who were seen by enemies, majorly Ekiti, Egba, Ijebu or Ilorin as having warring spirit like Ibadan warriors.

Most of the attributes were not derogratory but exhibition of act of valour of the forebears. An example of excessive talk in Mogaji Tewogbade’s rejoinder is that Ibadan is the political capital of Western Nigeria.

My question is who makes Ibadan the capital of Western Nigeria? Oyo could have remained the capital but being royal city and Ibadan a republican city, the British administration in order to avoid clash of interest used Ibadan as capital as they chose Lokoja and later Kaduna and not Sokoto for Northern Nigeria and Enugu and not Onitsha for the East.

My position is that Ibadan as illusionary political capital of Western Nigeria is not something to flunt about. It is a common knowledge that Ibadan people are orators or in local parlance “Elenu didun,” – sweet talk and this they used to save themselves from enemies.

There are other attributes of Ibadan as derived from Ibadan oral poetry like ‘Ibadan ma ja, ma ja ti won fi ko ara iwaju leru”. This is a war strategy by appearing as if they were not interested in a war but when the enemies have relaxed, they punched on them and enslaved MANY.

If Mogaji Tewogbade can be proud of those attributes that are complimentary, he should be ready to accept those that are less.

Aristotle said that poetry are truer than History. Nothing is farther from the truth.

—Adewuyi Adegbite, Ogbomoso.

Another, issue you raised in your bid to placate Mogaji Tewogbade is that Ibadan stopped Fulani jihadist from entering Yorubaland via Osogbo in 1840. There are two important corrections to make here. One, Fulani war did not enter Yorubaland. What was termed Fulani jihadist was Ilorin attempt under Fulani leadership to expand Ilorin sphere of influence for tribute, commerce and prestige. Ilorin in the 19th century and till today comprised 90 percent Yoruba of Oyo descent people from classical kingdoms of Igbon, Iresa, ikoyi, Oyo Ile and their satellites. The war being tagged Fulani war at Osogbo was led by two prominent Yoruba warriors, Chiefs Ajikobi and Lateju, Ajikobi was one of the four Balogun, war leaders created by Emir Abdusalam post Afonja political and military reform in Ilorin. For details see, Samuel Johnson, the History of the Yoruba. After the success of Yoruba over Ilorin at Osogbo the two chiefs were captured. Ajikobi was taken to Oyo precisely to the king – Alaafin Atiba for judgment. Lateju on the other hand was handed over to Bashorun Oluyole of Ibadan to receive judgement. Incidentally, when Alaafin Oluewu, the last Alaafin of Oyo Ile was captured at Eleduwe war in 1835, it was Chief Lateju who took the monarch to his residence and executed him. (Eleduwe war was the last war fought by Yoruba to win back Ilorin throne from people of Fulani descent. The Yoruba encamped in Ogbomoso for the preparation of the war and were led by the then bale bale Masifa, Omolajiki, one of the towns that congregated in Ogbomoso from different provinces of Oyo country in safeguarding the country from enemies). According to the record, Lateju especially could have been spared but for his effontery in killing the Yoruba monarch. Attributing the glory for stopping Ilorin army from conquering Osogbo in 1840 to Ibadan is a disservice to the gallantry efforts of the Yoruba soldiers from different supporting power of Oyo that fought in this war from Osogbo, Ogbomoso, Iseyin, Ede, Ejigbo, Shaki, ijado, Oko, Iresa, Ijeru among others. As a matter of fact, there was a pact among Yoruba leaders post  Oyo Atiba settlement which led to division of labour among various powers in Yorubaland. Ibadan was saddled with the protection of the country from the East, Ijaye under Are onakakanfo Kunmi to the west against Dahomy invasion, Ogbomoso to the North/North east. Soldier from Ogbomoso and other supporting towns have gone to Osogbo to face Ilorin but with closeness of Ogbomoso to Ilorin, many warriors were left home in case of sudden attack from Ilorin. Those at Osogbo actually held the stairs but found Ilorin soldiers too tough. In line with the pact, help were sought from Ibadan and their coming reinvigorated the spirit of the soldiers on the ground and the victory was won immediately. My position is that victory at Osogbo should be attributed to Yoruba and not Ibadan only.

—Adewuyi Adegbite, Ogbomoso.

My comment:

I came from that atribution on Ibadan but I didn’t want to be drawn into emotive controversies. Thanks .

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